A major earthquake drill will be organized in Bucharest and another Romanian locality this June, head of the Emergency Management Department (DSU) Raed Arafat announced on Tuesday at a scientific debate and communication session organized by the Romanian Academy on "Earthquakes - a challenge for research and society".
"We ran a major earthquake drill in 2018, we learned a lot from it, we changed some of our response regulations, (...) particularly the earthquake intervention concept. This year, from June 21 to 25 there will be the second major drill - five days, four nights - with the simulation of a major earthquake hitting two, not just one city. We will simulate the response in two cities, Bucharest included, of course. And we will see how we will handle it and we will learn something more in order to improve," Arafat said.
The DSU head drew attention to the "hidden" issues caused by unauthorized changes made to apartments in apartment buildings, the extent of which is unknown.
"Nobody knows their real extent. A building may appear as perfect upon external inspection, yet if the load-bearing walls have been removed in two or three apartments, it may collapse in an earthquake. We have no idea how many there are, it's very difficult to carry out checks in people's homes to see what they have changed inside the apartments. Now it's illegal, but there was a time when many made changes, before clear legislation was introduced defining this as a crime," explained Raed Arafat.
The DSU official mentioned the program financed by the World Bank for projects to earthquake-proof buildings where institutions tasked with responding in the event of a quake operate, noting that the Emergency Management Inspectorate General has identified 36 buildings, mainly fire departments, which are at seismic risk.
According to him, "major" steps have been taken in recent years on the response side, considering the expenses made by the emergency system for equipment and modernization.
"Almost one billion euros have been spent over seven years, but this is still not enough, more funding is needed for equipment, people, training, that is on our side as a response system," Arafat said.
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